BBM Adds 20 Million New Users In Its First Week On Android And iPhone

Only one week ago, BlackBerry released (after an aborted first attempt) the long awaited BBM for Android and iOS phones. Doesn't seem like it's been only a week, does it? Well, in this first week, BBM has grown to 80 million users, adding an astounding 20 million to the ranks of BBM active users. It's a real shot of reality for those that were bemoaning the death knell of BlackBerry. It has brought the world to BBM and brought back the former BBM users to the comfortable messenger they used to rely on.

Andrew states that BBM is the top overall downloaded app for Google Play in 35 countries as well as keeping in the top downloaded apps for the App Store in 107 countries which is really remarkable news. And BlackBerry has gone through the line of people waiting to download and sign into BBM, so now there is no wait. Keeping with the initial release of BBM for Android and iOS, BlackBerry issued updates for both platforms that fixes bugs, added additional functions and performance enhancements.

Bocking says that the focus of BlackBerry is now "active use of BBM – the connections being made and the conversations in which our BBM community engages." He also adds that BlackBerry will still "have a few tricks up their sleeves....and hope to share more with you as we bring new features to BBM in the coming months." This is probably a nod to the features that BlackBerry users already enjoy, namely Voice Chat, BBM Video Chat and BBM Channels.

All in all, incredible news for BlackBerry and BBM users. So head on over to the Inside BlackBerry Blog and read Andrew's full article.